Sarabha Nagar Ayurvedic dispensary in the pits

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 20

It takes much time to locate the Ayurvedic dispensary that is situated at power colony in Sarabha Nagar. There is no signage to guide visitors. On reaching the spot with guidance by local residents, Ludhiana Tribune team had to actually guess which building was housing the Ayurvedic dispensary. There was no board outside the dispensary that was established in 1980.

We went to the dispensary on Thursday. As we opened the door, there sat a woman alone with a few boxes of medicines on her side. We enquired if it was the Ayurvedic dispensary and she nodded in a ‘yes’. We entered the room and tried to make ourselves comfortable on the rickety chairs.

Our first question to the woman sitting on the other side of the table was if we could see a doctor or whether she was a doctor herself. She replied: “You could talk to her regarding the ailment as the doctor on duty is on leave today.” “The doctor had come yesterday but he is on leave today. In his absence, I am looking after the dispensary,” she said.

When we said she must be a pharmacist, she replied ‘no’. “I am a trained midwife. The post of midwife (known as upp-Vaid) has been lying vacant since 2015. I have been handling this job as well. I joined here in 2002 and after so much years of experience, I have come to know about the basic medication,” said Rama, the trained midwife.

When asked if the supply of medicines is regular there, she said the medicines were supplied regularly. In case there is a shortage of any medicine, they refer the patient to the dispensary at Model Gram (nearly 4 km away) to get the same. “We never ask a patient to buy medicines from outside,” said Rama.

The doctor in charge here is Dr Sehwaz Bhatti, who joined here only four months ago. Since he was not present today, we had a word with him on the phone while sitting in the dispensary. “I was transferred here four months ago and my papers are still under process at Chandigarh. I had some work due to which I had to take leave today,” he said.

Dr Bhatti said things had really improved after the AYUSH Ministry was formed. Ayurveda starts from the kitchen itself and consuming things from the kitchen to cure ailments is a right way rather than depending upon artificial medicines, he said.

Meanwhile, a patient entered the dispensary and sat on a bench next to us. Rama asked him if he had brought the slip, and got busy in giving him medicines. Rama was managing the dispensary single-handedly and discharging duties of a doctor as well as a pharmacist.